Bandcamp Concept albums about the collapse of human civilisation are a dime a dozen; one about the rise and fall of an insect civilisation is a rarer beast. Euarthropodia is exactly that, a Salzburg band charting an arthropod world from apocalypse to empire to entropy, “Eschaton,” “Insects Took Over,” “Queens of the New World,” “Aeon,” and the lurid green-and-orange swarm on the cover tells you they mean to commit to the bit. Grey Czar are a prog band in the maximal sense, three vocalists, keyboards, acoustic passages folding into fuzzed-out walls, and the sheer density of ideas here is the first thing you notice.
When the production keeps pace, it’s a genuine thrill. The opener “Eschaton” is the clearest statement, a balanced, dynamic mix with crisp guitar definition and a growling, precise bass that never muddies the low end, everything given room to breathe. “Ballad of Propellerheads” works a warm, analog, low-mid earthiness with beautifully clean acoustic guitars against fuzzed electrics, and “Arthrobotic Liberty” lands the most modern, creamy-saturated groove on the record, wide and well-separated. The dynamic writing has real theatre to it, the abrupt drop from the intimate acoustic intro of “Nutritional Protocol” into its brutal main riff being a standout piece of staging.
The record’s recurring problem is exactly the maximalism that makes it interesting. When Grey Czar stack synths, doubled vocals and layered guitar walls all at once, the mix starts to clog: “Queens of the New World” and “Trooping for Euarthropodia” suffer noticeable mid-range frequency stacking where the elements mask each other, the bass loses its contour, and the master is pushed hard enough that the densest passages, “Aeon” included, flatten against the limiter and rob the drums of air. The ambition writes cheques the mix occasionally can’t cash.
Euarthropodia is a bold, imaginative, genuinely distinctive prog record from a band unafraid to build a whole world and score it in three voices, and when the arrangement and the mix align it’s excellent. A little more restraint in the densest moments, or a mix with more room to separate all those layers, would have let the concept land cleanly from front to back. As it stands, it’s an ambitious, rewarding ride with a few overcrowded corners, and one of the more original things Central Europe’s prog underground has put out this year.
A maximal prog concept album charting the rise and fall of an insect civilisation, three vocalists, keyboards, acoustic passages folding into fuzzed-out walls. When the production keeps pace it thrills: the opener “Eschaton” is balanced and dynamic with crisp guitar definition and a growling precise bass, “Ballad of Propellerheads” works a warm analog earthiness with clean acoustics against fuzzed electrics, and “Arthrobotic Liberty” lands a creamy-saturated, well-separated groove. The dynamic staging has real theatre, the acoustic-intro-to-brutal-riff drop on “Nutritional Protocol” a standout. The recurring problem is the maximalism: when synths, doubled vocals and layered guitar walls stack at once, “Queens of the New World” and “Trooping for Euarthropodia” clog with mid-range frequency stacking that masks the elements and loses the bass contour, and the master flattens the densest passages (“Aeon”) against the limiter. Bold and distinctive, weighed down when the arrangements outrun the mix.
Standout tracks: Eschaton, Ballad Of Propellerheads, Arthrobotic Liberty
